A Storm Is Coming
Matthew 14:22-27
Sandy began as a little disturbance somewhere in the open seas. She grew to the point that she caught the national weather service’s eye. She grew from a little disturbance, to a tropical depression, then a tropical storm to a full-fledged hurricane. As she grew, predictions of her path had started to point to a Florida landfall then run all the way up the east coast. After a while weather folk started talking about a huge storm of possible biblical proportions hitting the east coast around New York and New Jersey.
“Good Morning America” found New Yorkers who didn’t believe the hype. Part of the reason is that a similarly hyped Hurricane named Irene was a non-event in New York, although it did a lot of damage to the city’s outlying areas. That’s why one New York City family is blowing off warnings to evacuate their neighborhood. “The wind may be strong, the noise, the sound, but I don’t really think it’s going to be as bad as they say it will be.” And many other residents that were in harm’s way, including those in Atlantic City, contemplated whether to heed the dire warnings of torrential rain, high winds and up to 2 feet of snow or to just “ride it out”.
UB - people may scoff at the weather center’s predictions by saying that they don’t know what will happen – they are only guessing. But what we need to remember is that forecasters are often right. The movie The Perfect Storm was based on a real storm that killed a lot of people. Thousands of people failed to heed the warnings about Hurricane Katrina. That’s the one that devastated the Gulf Coast in 2005 and became one of the five deadliest storms in U.S. history.
New York City Mayor Bloomberg told his city’s resident - If you refuse to evacuate you’re not only putting yourself at risk, but also the first responders, who will have put their lives at risk trying to rescue you. And UB – in spite of the strong warnings, you know that many people chose to ignore the warnings.
Then here comes Sandy and New Yorkers woke up to submerged neighborhoods and water-soaked electrical equipment. Folk in Atlantic City New Jersey found high-tides being pushed against their boardwalk, wiping it out along with large chunks of the city. The shelter they ran to (instead of totally getting out) flooded. They experienced everything that the forecasters predicted and more. That storm they chose to ignore then hooked up with a Nor’easter causing saltwater to rush into the subways and other tunnel systems of Lower Manhattan; the skyline was flashing with power transformers exploding leaving millions without electricity. It became clear that the threat of flooding, power loss & property damage was even worse than predicted.
At first, no one knew the full extent of the damage that Sandy had done. Even after Sandy had left an area, she was still wreaking havoc because she was so massive - causing people to have to reschedule flights due to airport closings, stay at sea because ships could not dock and clean up mess because she put trees, cars, boats, water and telephone poles where they are not supposed to be. Hurricane Sandy killed more than 50 people in the Caribbean – they are still counting in the northeast - and governors on the East Coast declared states of emergency & ordered evacuations. The governmental leaders warned everybody to be prepared for the storms aftermath. They said - when the storm hits, you will be without electricity, heat, shelter and food. You better get ready. People heard the warning and many chose to ignore it. UB – people could have been spared the loss of life and in some cases loss of some property. But they chose to ignore the warnings to get ready. And when they did, the one storm they thought was going to be nothing turns out to be something really big. The ones that chose to “ride it out” wish now that they had heeded the warnings and/or been better prepared.
With all of the circumstances surrounding Sandy (people ignoring the warnings and people being ill prepared for the storm) it reminded me of a couple pieces of Scripture. It reminded me of the ill-prepared brides maids when the bridegroom showed up. You know how they were running around trying to get oil for their lamps from the brides maids that took the time to prepare for the bridegroom’s coming. Look at the folk running around trying to get gas – not for their cars – but for their generators. And it reminded me of how – before the flood – that Noah had a relationship with the Lord. And when the flood came – because of his relationship, Noah and his family were saved – while everybody and everything else perished.
This also brought to my mind the storms that come into our lives. And UB – many people are not prepared for these storms any more than the people were that suffered through the literal storms like Sandy or Katrina. Storms can come in many forms and they seem to come at the most inopportune times. When you home is in order and flowing on calm water but then all of a sudden your spouse starts acting the fool. These storms show up right after your child gets an award for high achievement then out of the blue they start acting like they have been possessed by demons. Storms show up when your supervisor acts like he/she is from another planet. Storms can be when you or a loved one gets seriously sick and you have no health insurance. Storms can even come when you are on top of you game at work but then your company decides to take another approach and your services are no longer needed. And this is right after you have signed your name on a new mortgage. When these storms show up – what do you do? And it is not like you haven’t been warned to get prepared. Do we not see all the time that you need to have a rainy day fund saved up in one of these banks? Haven’t you heard many times that we need to pay a little more attention to our kids? Come on now! And haven’t you been warned on several occasions not to put your hope in man because man will let you down?
Sandy brought to my mind many things about the storms of life. And during this time I was led to take a second look at a very familiar piece of Scripture – which is our text for today. See - there are some folk who are still living in Utopia Ville thinking that living a good life in the will of God is going to keep us from times of storm. But let me tell you that storms are coming our way and we better be prepared for them. This is the first point I want to make today and our text makes it plain. All of us on this planet will face storms in our lives – regardless of who we serve or how well we serve.
In our text Jesus told his disciples to get in the boat and go ahead of him to the other side. He was going to dismiss the crowd and then go to a solitary place, in the mountains, and pray. When the disciples leave the shore, doing what Jesus told them to do, everything is OK. But sometime later they run into a storm and they have to battle in this storm for a long time. Check this out UB. The disciples were in the will of God. They were where they were supposed to be. And they were doing exactly what Jesus told them to do. Yet they still ran into the middle of a storm. Church, our text shows us that everybody will have storms in their life.
When we look at the Bible from Genesis through Revelation we see that recurring theme. People of God have storms in their lives. Now don’t get me or the Scriptures wrong – folk outside the will of God have times of storm also. The Bible teaches us that rain falls on the just and unjust. I don’t want you to start thinking that being a child of God is not a good idea. Being a child of God is definitely a good thing but you need to know that Christians go through stuff – just like the heathens. But the difference is that God prepares his children for the storms and the other folk are not. That is why we don’t act the fool when the storms of life break out, even though we are in the storm just like everybody else.
Now I need to pull over here. Some of us go through more storms than others. Some of us are like storm chasers. Some of us suffer through storms that we don’t have to simply because we did something that we should not have done – said something we should not have said and gone places where we had no business going. Then some ignored the warnings. Expound on all.
In our text for today, things were calm when Jesus told the disciples to get in the boat. As they were going out into the sea, the water was still calm. But somewhere, sometime and somehow, a contrary wind came against them. The boat that Jesus sent them out in began to be tossed about. What I want you to see is that things were looking good. All was well - then out of the blue a storm comes. It was just like that in Atlantic City, New Jersey. For a while, all was well. It looked like Sandy was going to be another false alarm. But somewhere, sometime and somehow that Nor’easter hooked up with Sandy and they have a storm of almost biblical proportions on their hands. They were not looking for anything like that. Had they been on guard – had they heeded the warning – many would not be struggling as much as they are now. Many would not be as hopeless as they are right now. They put their hope - their trust – their survival in their own capabilities and they found that, what they had, was no match for Sandy. UB – all I’m trying to tell you is that it is not a matter of if we will go through storms; it is a matter of when. And when they come – we need to be prepared?
This brings me to my next point. Our text reminds us UB that we should not wait until the storms hit our shores before getting prepared for the storm. You read the paper – you heard it on the radio and saw it on TV, how people were warned to get prepared for the storm. You also read and heard how many folk ignored the warnings. UB - that is not a smart thing to do. I don’t care if we are talking about a literal physical storm or a metaphorical storm, you better be prepared before the storm hit your shore.
Well - How do we get prepared Rev? We can get some clues from our text. We need to look at Jesus. Many times we forget that Jesus has a human side. Jesus did what He did as well as He did them because He always looked toward heaven. He was always in communication with the Father. Jesus is our perfect example. When we look at the Bible writer’s accounts of the life of Jesus, we constantly see that before He did something big, He looked toward heaven. In other words – He prayed. He talked things over with the Father. When He fed the 5,000 – the Gospel writers said that He looked toward heaven. When He raised Lazarus from the dead – the Bible said that He looked toward heaven. And our text for today shows that before heading into this literal storm – He was in a solitary place praying for 9 hours. Before doing something big – He always prayed. Still not convinced! When He was heading toward Calvary – He went to the Garden and prayed so hard that he sweated what appeared to be drops of blood. What this tells us UB is when you are heading toward something big; when you are heading toward something like a Sandy, you better get on your knees. Don’t wait until you get in the storm, don’t wait until the storm hits your shore, pray before it hits. Pray for direction, pray for strength, pray for provisions and then rest in the assurance that the God you serve is a prayer answering God. When you in a relationship with the Lord – you can know that everything will come out all right.
Yes UB - we get prepared by being in relationship with our Lord. And you do that by spending time with him. You do that in private and corporate Bible study. You do that by spending time in communication with Him in prayer. You do that by spending time reading, studying and meditating on His word. See when you really know the Lord, you will know that He will not send you somewhere or allow you into something that he cannot bring you through. When you know Him you will know that He will come to you and give you the peace you need.
What I want us to see UB is that storms don’t catch a prepared person, an aware person, a
person that is led by the Spirit, off guard. If you have been taught what to expect - when it happens, you are not taken by surprise. There was a man that had survived the last perfect storm back in 1991 that said - people should get out of the path of Sandy while they can do so calmly. Because if this storm hits, you’re going to lose all those little things you’ve spent the last 20 years feeling good about. Look - There are some things that people will lose in a storm. Property can be replaced. Most people have insurance to cover stuff. If you heed the warning and get prepared before any kind of storm hits your shore, you can save some of that precious stuff. When the warnings come, collect those irreplaceable things and documents and get out of Dodge. The house can be replaced. Lives can’t. So what if it’s a false alarm – the worse that will happen is a little inconvenience. You know the old saying – it is better to be safe than sorry. People in New Orleans warned the people in Sandy’s path to get out of her way. These were people that had been in a storm and survived. They survived because they were prepared.
Don’t wait until you are in the storm to get prepared. It may be too late. Just ask all of those folk in New York and New Jersey that were stuck in lines trying to get gas for their generators. You need to establish a relationship and track record with the Lord before the storms hit your shore. That relationship will guide you through and give you peace in the time of storm.
Does this mean when I am in a storm that I should not pray. I am not saying that. I am saying that you should not wait until it hits your shore to get prepared for the storm. If you wait until you are IN the storm to start praying, there is nothing to base your hope in. You will be praying out of fear rather than praying with faith. If you have not put your trust is God for the ordinary times in life, how will you trust him for the storms of life. I think it is time now UB to get a life that has prayer and meditation on the word of God as routine. Then when the storms arrive-when you are toss all about by the winds and the waves, you will have faith that God will do things for you. You will know that God will work things out for you. Then – in the midst of our storms - we can have a peace that passes all understanding.
Let me say this and then I will leave you alone. Our text finally shows us that when we are in the storm, there is a shelter that comes to us rather than us going to it.
During times of storm we need a shelter to run to and find safety. But you know what UB – sometimes you can’t get to your shelter. In Atlantic City, the shelter the people ran to was flooded. When you are in a storm and it is about to overtake you, you need to know that Jesus is your shelter. A little past our text, Jesus kept Peter from sinking. Peter was going down but he had a shelter that reached out to him in the midst of his storm.
I know those disciples, who had been struggling in that storm for a long time needed some help and a shelter. See UB - A shelter is a place of safety, A shelter is a place of comfort, A shelter is a place of peace and provision. There is one place that I know that meets all of these features, and that is Jesus. He is the shelter in the time of the storm because He is bigger and more powerful than any storm that would come our way. When the disciples were in the storm struggling, Jesus came to them - walking on what, at the time, was rocking their world. This showed the disciples, and us, that He is in control and nothing, not even the winds and the waves, can keep Him from rescuing us in the time of storm.
Storms come and go in everybody’s life. And UB – you know it has been said that storms come in the life of Christians to take us to our next level of faith, our next level of maturity or our next level of ministry. In order for us to grow, God allows storms. The storms that come in our lives make us strong. And each time the storm gets a little tougher than the one before. The seas get rougher, the winds get a little stronger, jobs get tougher and our enemies get meaner. But every storm is to build us up for something that we’ll face down the road and we will need this strength – the courage – the wisdom to handle that situation. We are not going through just to be going through. A soft Christian cannot survive. You are in the storm to make your faith stronger. He will bring you through it. The disciples were in a terrible storm. But in the midst of their struggle, Jesus shows up. And they came to know that Jesus was in fact the Son of God and they got to know Him as a Shelter in the midst of a storm.
Jesus has given all of us saved folk, Christians, believers - the comfort that He will never leave us or forsake us. When we are in Jesus and Jesus in us. We have the right shelter for whatever storm may come against us.
INVITATION:
If you don’t have Jesus in your life, then today ask him to come and be your shelter and savior; you will never regret abiding in Jesus the shelter for all storms
